NORWOOD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Analog
Devices, Inc. announced today a collaboration with The
Cornucopia Project and ripe.io
to explore the local food supply chain and use this work as a vehicle
for educating students at ConVal Regional High School in Peterborough,
N.H., and local farmers on 21st century agriculture skills.
The initiative instructs student farmers how to use Internet
of Things and blockchain technologies to track the conditions and
movement of produce from “Farm to Fork” to make decisions that improve
quality, yields, and profitability. Together with the Cornucopia
Project, the endeavor is funded by Analog Devices and ripe.io, with both
companies also providing technical training.

For the project, Analog Devices is providing a prototype version of its
crop monitoring solution, which will be capable of measuring
environmental factors that help farmers make sound decisions about crops
related to irrigation, fertilization, pest management, and harvesting.
The sensor-to-cloud, Internet of Things solution enables farmers to make
better decisions based on accumulated learning from the near-real-time
monitoring. These 24/7 measurements are combined with a near infrared
(NIR) miniaturized spectrometer that conducts non-destructive analysis
of food quality not previously possible in a farm environment.

“This project expands on our ‘Internet
of Tomatoes’ program which empowers farmers to make better decisions
throughout the growing cycle, improving quality, economic, and
environmental outcomes,” said Kevin Carlin, vice president, Automation,
Energy and Sensors, Analog Devices. “Our crop monitoring solution will
provide reliable and precise information to student farmers and local
farmers so they can grow healthier, fresher, better tasting produce. It
demonstrates how a crop monitoring solution extends the value and
possibilities of the Internet of Things in truly transformative ways.”

The Cornucopia Project, a non-profit located in Peterborough, N.H.,
provides garden and agricultural programs to students from elementary
through high school. Student farmers in its Farm to Fork program learn
how to use advanced sensor instrumentation in their greenhouse, which
provide valuable data to assess the attributes of tomatoes, and how
these factors affect taste and quality. The program also educates
students on how crops can be tracked throughout the agricultural supply
chain to support food quality, sustainability, traceability, and
nutrition.

“Analog Devices is helping us explore how advances in technology can
support local food systems,” said Karen Hatcher, executive director, The
Cornucopia Project. “We are training next-generation farmers in 21st
century agriculture to harvest tastier, more abundant and more
sustainably grown tomatoes than ever before. This initiative will
contribute to enhancing the economic health and vitality of local small-
and medium-size farms and the communities that support them.”

ripe.io is contributing its blockchain technology to model the entire
fresh produce supply chain, combining the crop growing data,
transportation, and storage conditions. Blockchain – a distributed
ledger, consensus data technology that is used to maintain a
continuously growing list of records – will track crop lifecycle from
seed to distributor to retailer to consumer, bringing transparency and
accountability to the agricultural supply chain.

“This project is one of the first implementations of blockchain
technology to build an open and transparent supply chain with farmers,
suppliers, distributors, retailers, food service, and end consumers,”
said Raja Ramachandran, CEO of ripe.io. “What is learned in the
initiative not only will improve quality, economic, and environmental
outcomes in the local farming community, but also can be extended to
other farms and crop species around the country.”

About Analog DevicesAnalog Devices (NASDAQ: ADI) is the
leading global high-performance analog technology company dedicated to
solving the toughest engineering challenges. We enable our customers to
interpret the world around us by intelligently bridging the physical and
digital with unmatched technologies that sense, measure, power, connect
and interpret. Visit http://www.analog.com.